July 16 Update:

If anyone can wield influence with Microsoft and persuade company leaders to stop selling AI and cloud services to the Israeli military and ICE, it's Bill Gates.

Bill Gates formally stepped down from Microsoft in 2020, but still spends "about 15% of his time" working for the company, conducting product reviews, according to The Wall Street Journal.

There's no way he doesn't know about Microsoft's entrenchment in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza or support for ICE.

But Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the Gates Foundation, has tacitly endorsed putting the company’s financial interests over the horrific reality: that his former company has aided a military responsible for the massacre of more than 17,000 Palestinian children.¹

Sources:

1. “UN report lists companies complicit in Israel’s ‘genocide’: Who are they?,” Al Jazeera, July 1, 2025.

May 29, Campaign Update:

121 Gates Cambridge Scholars and Alumni sent an open letter to Bill Gates on May 14th, asking him to use his influence with Microsoft to end its partnership with the Israeli Military. They have yet to get a response. Please see their letter here.

Here is an excerpt:

"The Gates Cambridge scholarship was established to build a global network of future leaders “committed to improving the lives of others”. We joined the community of scholars under the assumption that the Gates Cambridge Trust, the Gates Foundation and you, yourself, also embody and embrace this value. We ask you to take moral leadership in this decisive political moment and issue a public statement expressing your rejection of Microsoft technologies being used as a tool of war and genocide and your endorsement of the demands of the No Azure for Apartheid campaign. Failing to take a stand on this issue has far-reaching damaging consequences for upholding international law, democratic values, and human rights that underpin the international system as we know it. It also risks the reputation of the scholarship and tarnishes the legacy of those who championed its work since its inception."

###

This month marks Microsoft’s 50th anniversary, celebrations are in full swing and Bill Gates is getting the celebrity treatment. He’s still central to Microsoft, meeting regularly with the current CEO, Satya Nadella, and spending “about 15%” of his time reviewing Microsoft products.¹

It’s a good time to remind Gates to review Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform.  Azure is one of Microsoft’s products used in Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza² and also used to facilitate ICE’s targeting of student protests against genocide.³

For Microsoft’s 50th, tell Bill Gates to use his influence and stop supporting AI warfare and the government’s unlawful deportations.

Microsoft once prided itself on being a tech company with strong human rights standards, particularly regarding AI. Even today, despite multiple exposés on how Microsoft’s Azure and AI are fueling Israel’s genocide, Microsoft still promotes itself online as incorporating global human rights “laws, principles, and norms.”⁴

All while Trump deports legal residents with Azure support, and Netanyahu faces an active arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.

Neither Trump nor Netanyahu could carry out their plans for mass deportations and massacres in Gaza without Microsoft.

Take action today: Tell Bill Gates to celebrate Microsoft’s 50th anniversary by doing something good for the world.

Sources:

1. “Five Takeaways From Bill Gates’s Interview With The Wall Street Journal,” The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 26, 2025.

2. “How US tech giants supplied Israel with AI models, raising questions about tech's role in warfare,” AP News, Feb. 18, 2025.

3. “ICE Wants to Know If You’re Posting Negative Things About It Online,” The Intercept, Feb. 11, 2025.

4. “Microsoft Global Human Rights Statement,” (accessed March 17, 2025).